"Musically we were on the same level and we wanted it to be special," says Akon. "We wanted it so that when people got my album, it was something that was never heard. But the leak stopped those plans. We will be doing more things together in the future, though".

What these things are and when they'll happen remains to be seen, but Akon is clearly a big Jackson fan.

"I want them to be able to put focus on Mike. He is the greatest artist ever," he gushed. "So long as the focus is on him, people are going to ask him about the song he did with me, so then my name pops up in his interview. It works both ways".